Friday, January 31, 2014

Testimony Ends In Clerk of Court's Public Records Lawsuit Against the EDC

Ellis

TITUSVILLE, Florida -- The witness testimony portion of the hearing concluded on Friday in the public records lawsuit
brought by Brevard County Clerk of Court, Scott Ellis, against the
Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast which seeks a
Circuit Court judge's order that the EDC hand over its BlueWare
documents.

But it could be well over a month before a ruling takes place in the lawsuit. That's because Brevard
County Circuit Court Judge John Dean Moxley, Jr. refined the issues before the Court today to a "totality test' and a "delegation test" as the applicable case law in determining whether the EDC's documents are subject to public records inspection under Florida Statute Chapter 119. Moxley then gave attorneys for both sides 21 days to write closing arguments that apply the evidence introduced in Court to those two tests.

Referred to by Moxley as the "Schwab test" from the 1992 public records case News & Sun-Sentinel Co. v.Schwab,Twitty & Hanser Architectural Group, the factors considered include, but are not limited to: 1) the level of
public funding; 2) commingling of funds; 3) whether the activity was
conducted on publicly owned property; 4) whether services contracted for
are an integral part of the public agency's chosen decision-making
process; 5) whether the private entity is performing a governmental
function or a function which the public agency otherwise would perform;
6) the extent of the public agency's involvement with, regulation of, or
control over the private entity; 7) whether the private entity was
created by the public agency; 8) whether the public agency has a
substantial financial interest in the private entity; and 9) for who's
benefit the private entity is functioning.

Weatherman

"We’re confident that the Clerk has presented sufficient evidence to indicate that the EDC is
subject to Florida’s Public Records Act when it is utilizing public funds to perform its functions," said Tyler Winik in a release from the Clerk's office. "The timeline put forth in Court shows the current public-private partnership we know as the EDC
evolved from what was once the County’s Brevard Economic Development Council. The
conversion was done with the County’s approval to delegate a single point of contact for the
County’s economic development needs. The EDC could not have been viable without the initial seed appropriation the County provided
in 1989. The County’s continued $1.4 million funding enables the EDC to provide the services and
programs offered. Our belief is the County taxpayer is entitled to have a transparent view on
how their money is spent"

"We are eager to get resolution and thankful the process is moving
forward," said EDC President and CEO, Lynda Weatherman in a statement. "Our counsel will now draft a legal brief highlighting why our
arguments and the evidence presented support our position, and that
brief will be provided to the judge in late February for his review and
ruling.

"We are excited and ready to get back to work helping to
strengthen Brevard County’s economy through business retention and
expansion and our growing roster of innovative community programs such
as Made in Brevard and G.O. Contracts, said Weatherman. "That has always been, and
remains, our mission and our focus."

"The Clerk’s interest in BlueWare’s records has never been about prying into the private
financials or trade secrets of companies wishing to come to Brevard. Florida statute already
provides generous exemptions for these specific items," Winick added. "What isn’t provided in statute, however, is the EDC’s ability to deny in whole the public’s
review of the records the EDC makes, maintains, or receives with regard to its publicly-funded
contract with the County."

BACKGROUND:

BlueWare is the company caught up in a public corruption criminal case
brought by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and State Attorney Phil Archer against former Clerk of
Court, Mitch Needelman, his former business partner Matt Dupree, and BlueWare CEO Rose Harr.

The EDC helped BlueWare and some of its affiliated companies to
qualify for various government programs and other "workforce incentives" that could
have totaled nearly $2 million in taxpayer money. None of those
incentives were ultimately awarded to BlueWare because it did not meet
its performance benchmarks.

After the Clerk's office learned from a Brevard Times investigative article
published on August 26, 2013 that State of Florida Department of
Economic Opportunity officials said the BlueWare's confidentiality had
lapsed and Governor Rick Scott's Office stated to Brevard Times that the BlueWare incentive
contract was canceled on April 5, 2013, the Clerk sent his auditors to
the EDC in Rockledge the next day to request a copy of the EDC file on
BlueWare. When the EDC refused to
comply with the public records request, Ellis then filed this lawsuit.

Brevard Times was the only news source to continue a series of in-depth investigative articles led by Charles Parker into this and related stories:

2 comments:

Just watch, absolutely nothing will come of this because it involves our corrupt County Commission. This whole organization needs to be shut down and the power of the County Commission needs to be returned to the people. We have a very overbearing and intrusive county government. Just ask anyone that has to obtain a building permit for something.